Yesterday I drove to Chicago to do a guest spot at Senese's Winery and Barrel of Laughs comedy club. I left around 1:30 and got to the club around 6:30, so I killed some time at a local Starbucks and then went into the club. When I met Bill Brady, the owner, he introduced me to James Wesley Jackson and Vince Viecelli (the headliner and feature respectively). He also asked if I needed a 2 minute light, to which I asked how much time I was doing. He said ten minutes and I said no (I didn't need the light). Then he said fifteen. I got confused for a second, as if he thought I was saying that ten minutes wasn't enough. I checked, and he said that's not how he saw it, so I was safe. Then I told him I wouldn't need a light regardless because of my timer (I ended up doing 14:53). Bill also said the only words they allow are s**t, damn and hell. I said I don't even use those, so we should be fine.
Bill usually hosts the shows, so I was auditioning as a feature act (I've heard that his club is a good one to start out in, and he admits that he likes giving people a chance). I went up after Bill did about 15 minutes of crowd work. Vince had already warned me about pacing myself after Bill because it's a weird transition. He said that usually his first five minutes are lost just trying to get the audience to shift gears.
My set, which I got on tape, wasn't bad. After the show, I told Bill I wasn't disappointed, but I know I could have done better. There were times where the audience was with me, and times where they just weren't. My skier, email and phone sex jokes all did pretty well, but that's only a couple of minutes out of my entire 15 minutes that really got half the laughs I wanted...The PA system was a little loud, but I got used to it after a bit on stage.
After the show, I hung out and talked to Bill a bit, gave him my promo kit and headed home. By this point it was about 10:20 or later, and my Garmin estimated my arrival at 3:19AM.
Somewhere around Springfield, IL I had to pull over and take a small nap, but that only lasted about 7 minutes when I woke up (because I left my car running for the heater) and for a split-second thought that I was still driving on the road. That pretty much woke me up for the rest of the ride home...